SOR I - Changing patterns of religious adherence (religious expression - religious landscape)

Constantly evolved and changed from 1945 to the present (3 main areas)

· Significant decrease in total percentage of Christian affiliations
· Increase in total number of non-Christians especially in religions where high rates of immigration boost populations, most notably since the early 1990's
· Increase in total number of no religion or not stated/inadequate description, most significant from the 2011 to 2016 census

Christianity (whole tradition)

· Significant decline in religious affiliation by the percentage of the Australian population from the 1947 census to the 2016 census
o Was nearly 90% of population is now just over 50%
o Steady decline from 1976 census
o Most significant decrease of 9% between 2011 and 2016

Christianity (denominational)

· Most populous affiliation within Christianity was Anglican (39% in 1947 census) but become Catholic in 1986 and continues to be to the present (22.6% in 2016 census)
o Due to an influx of catholic affiliation in 1966 census data and greater rate of decline in Anglican affiliation

Non Christian (general)

· Increase in total number of non-Christians, most notably since the early 1991 census
o Has been growing by roughly 1% each 5 years

Non Christian (most prominant)

· Most prominent non-Christian religion has had a dynamic nature with multiple religious traditions playing this role for brief times (was Judaism, then Isalm, then Buddhism and was Islam in 2016)
o Judaism from 1947 to 1976 when it was roughly 0.4%
o Islam from 1981 to 1996 when at its highest was 1.1%
o Buddhism from 1996 to 2011 when it was 2.5%
o Returned to Islam in 2019 at 2.6% (an increase of 1.5% since it was most prominent)

Non Christian (Judaism & Sikhism)

· Judaism numbers have stayed consistent since mass migration after WW2 at 0.4% all years except in 2011 when it was 0.5%
· Sikhism has recently seen a significant increase with it being 0.3% in 2011 to 0.5% in 2016

No Religion & Not Stated (general)

· Fluctuating affiliations by percentage of the Australian population from 1945 to 2016 but general increase
o Increase of just under 30% to being 40% in 2016

No Religion & Not Stated (no religion has ______)

· No religion has been on the rise, with notable increases in the 1976 and 2016 census
o Increase of 8% to 1976
o Increase of 8% to 2016

No Religion & Not Stated (no religion - significant)

· In the 2016 census the most population religious affiliation was 'No Religion' at 30%, in comparison to the predominate Anglican affiliations at 40% in 1947
o Significant pattern as it has never happened before as this position was held by Anglicanism or Catholicism